Apple's Three Newest International Stores are Tourist Hotspots

Today at 10am PDT, Apple's Steve Jobs stepped out on stage to give the company's autumn keynote address. Along with all sorts of product announcements like a smaller, touch-screen Nano, a fresh Shuffle and chic black Apple TV, Jobs also briefly detailed the newest additions to their collection of stores around the world.

The threeApple Paris, Apple in Covent Garden, London and Apple Shanghaihelped the company reach the 300 stores worldwide milestone, and they're already open. Considering how Apple's 5th Avenue store is one of the most photographed places in New York City and a featured location in guidebooks, we're not amiss in saying that the the new London, Paris and Shanghai stores will soon become as hot a tourist spot as any other landmark.

Already we gravitate to the glowing glass facades of Apple stores in international cities when we visit, and just to mooch off the free WiFi signal.

The Apple Opéra Paris store is pictured above, a lofty space renovated from a classic, old bank which opened at the beginning of July. Visitors call it the least Apple-like store yet, and still they flock to it. Located nearby the Opera Garnier, it occupies an enviable spot right in prime tourist traffic.

Above we see a sliver of the new Apple Covent Garden, London store, which opened on August 7. It's all superlatives as Apple's largest and newest store, and it used a metric ton of glass in the decor. Finally we can stop standing outside the Regent Street Apple store for the WiFi signal and talk a walk to Covent Garden.

Shanghai's flagship Apple store debuted in early June to attract the World Expo tourists who'll be visiting through October. The store, which begins as a glass cylinder above ground before going underground for the full retail floors, is groundbreaking in design and a major must-see already.